The Federal Bureaucracy

The Federal Bureaucracy

The Federal Bureaucracy

The Federal Bureaucracy

The Federal Bureaucracy

The federal bureaucracy is huge: roughly 2.6 million employees, plus many
freelance contractors. Everybody in the bureaucracy works to administer the law. For
the most part, the executive branch manages the federal bureaucracy. Although the
executive branch controls the majority of the federal bureaucracy, the legislative
and judiciary branches also have some influence. Congress, for example, controls the
Library of Congress, the Congressional Research Service, and the Government
Accountability Office, among other bureaucracies. Through its power of oversight,
Congress also monitors the federal bureaucracy to make sure that it acts properly.
The courts sometimes get involved in the bureaucracy when issues of law and
constitutionality arise, such as when a civil service regulation is violated or if
an agency oversteps its jurisdiction.

There are five types of organizations in the federal bureaucracy:

Cabinet departments

Independent executive agencies

Independent regulatory agencies

Government corporations

Presidential commissions

Bureaucratic Growth

The federal bureaucracy was small throughout much of American history. But
the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and President Lyndon Johnson’s
Great Society programs greatly expanded the role of the federal government.
George W. Bush’s War on Terror has also expanded and redefined the role of the
federal government and has necessitated the creation of new organizations, such
as the Department of Homeland Security.

Cabinet Departments

The executive office consists of fifteen departments, as shown by the
table on the next page. Each department is headed by a secretary.